


they have torn me, and I bleed

by possibilityleft



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Backstory, Episode Tag, M/M, Marriage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-08
Updated: 2014-11-08
Packaged: 2018-02-20 07:14:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 927
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2419811
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/possibilityleft/pseuds/possibilityleft
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Canton packs for Utah. <em>"I'm not sure it's real," Canton admits, finally.  He's carrying the blue envelope in his pocket and he pulls it out again for probably the hundredth time and examines it.  It's not signed, but the color is as good as a signature.  It has been forty years, almost, without a word.  If the man can time travel, why doesn't he visit?  Canton feels silly for thinking that, but he can't shake the thought</em></p>
            </blockquote>





	they have torn me, and I bleed

**Author's Note:**

  * For [NancyBrown](https://archiveofourown.org/users/NancyBrown/gifts).



They ended up getting married in 1975. That's the date that Canton thinks of as their real anniversary, no matter whether the government bothers to recognize it. They even send Nixon an invitation, although they aren't surprised when he doesn't make it. He's been staying out of the public eye mostly. He does send a gift, however, a nice set of wine glasses. They keep them in the china cabinet for special occasions.

The Doctor had been surprised they weren't allowed to get married, and that gives Canton hope. Maybe it's just the Doctor's weird culture -- although if he were alien, he certainly looked human -- but someplace, somewhere, his partnership isn't unusual.

He doesn't talk about Lou at the Bureau and no one ever asks about his home life. They all read the arrest record from the gay rights protests. They all know he was there, and that it was why he'd left initially. But even after Nixon leaves office, no one says anything. Canton just keeps working, although he notices he isn't getting promoted.

He listens to Julie in the next cubicle wail about her divorce, and then he goes home to be with his husband. It had taken quite a while for their relationship to recover from the spectacle of the Doctor, the way he'd utterly changed and very nearly ruined Canton's life. Four months after the whole thing started, Canton ended up on Lou's doorstep, bags at his feet, and his partner nearly shut the door in Canton's face.

Canton still isn't sure if Lou believes him, but whatever he said was enough for Lou to take him back. Lou occasionally throws out theories, like really good drugs or some kind of twisted science experiment, but they don't talk about it much anymore. Until now.

"I don't understand why I can't go with you," Lou says. He's much too old to be pouting like an eight-year-old, but Canton gets that distinct impression. He's watching Canton pack from his wheelchair, sitting near the bed. Canton's hands are shaking a little. He hasn't seen the Doctor in more than thirty years, but he has been invited to his funeral. It has been suggested that he bring gasoline. He can't bring Lou with him. The little card didn't say that, but the reservation is for one. He feels it in his bones.

The wedding ring gleams on Lou's hand, catching the early morning light from the window. They got a civil union in Vermont in 2000, a marriage certificate in Canada in 2001, another one in D.C. in 2010. They've worn the same rings each time. Now they don't feel like they have to take them off when they're in public. No matter what, Lou has been with him.

"Too much sand," he says, gruffly, "not good for the chair."

"That's not the reason," Lou says, and he's right. He can always tell when Canton is making excuses.

Canton feels silly talking about destiny or time travel or death. Those are big themes, the kind the Doctor dabbled in, the kind of thing that attracted him when he was young. He's retired now, mostly, but he still consults once in a while. He's the only known former government agent in the U.S. who really knew this Doctor. (There have been a lot of sightings of men calling themselves the Doctor, of course, but almost none had the silly chin.) 

"I'm not sure it's real," Canton admits, finally. He's carrying the blue envelope in his pocket and he pulls it out again for probably the hundredth time and examines it. It's not signed, but the color is as good as a signature. It has been forty years, almost, without a word. If the man can time travel, why doesn't he visit? Canton feels silly for thinking that, but he can't shake the thought. Maybe this is all some elaborate con and he's going to end up in the middle of nowhere with a gasoline can and no ride back to town. He doesn't want to think about what the gas can would be for, if someone means to hurt him.

"Of course it's real," Lou says, surprising him. He wheels over and takes the shirt that Canton has been clutching for the past minute. He re-folds it neatly and puts it in Canton's suitcase.

"How do you know?" Canton asks.

"I believed you all those years ago, and you've never lied to me. They're talking now about going to Mars someday -- why not somewhere further away? Weirder things have happened," Lou says. He's rearranging the suitcase contents now. He's always been better at that than Canton.

"Probably not," Canton says, but he doesn't protest when Lou finishes with the suitcase and closes it.

"Maybe this time you can bring a picture back," Lou says. "Don't forget your phone. Call me when you get there."

Lou trusts his instincts, and Canton trusts Lou. Just as much as Lou trusts him. Forty-six years of marriage will do that. Canton kisses his husband on the forehead, and then leans down a little to kiss him on the mouth.

"A picture," Canton says. "Definitely." He regularly gets pictures from their son of baby Grace. He knows how to work the phone camera.

"Don't go to space without me, okay?" Lou says, brushing an imaginary speck of dust from Canton's shoulder.

"You can bet on it," Canton answers, and he's actually smiling a little when he leaves the house with his bag.

You're never too old for another adventure, after all.


End file.
